Will Power's IndyCar title hopes done after crazy wreck to open Gateway race

Ed Carpenter’s car lands on top of the car driven by Will Power during a wreck in Turn 2 during the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park. (Scott Kane, AP)

MADISON, Ill. — The race hadn’t even started before the craziness began.

Tony Kanaan kicked off the Bommarito Automotive 500 Saturday night at a jam-packed Gateway Motorsports Park by spinning out and crashing during the final pace lap and setting the race off under caution.

Kaanan’s spinout in Turn 1 turned out to be a harbinger of things to come, as when the race finally went green five laps in, pole-sitter Will Power lost control of his car and slammed into the outside wall of Turn 1. The wreck collected Takuma Sato and Ed Carpenter, whose car frighteningly jumped atop Power’s.

Power and Carpenter were checked, cleared and released by IndyCar medical personnel, but their cars were too damaged to return to the race. Sato didn’t require any medical attention, but his Andretti Autosport team was not able to make repairs, so he also is out.

Power attributed his loss of control to a “super slippery” surface. Carpenter confirmed the diagnosis, telling NBC Sports Network the surface was very slick. He also said that the Indy Lights Series race, which ran just before the Verizon IndyCar Series, probably left a lot of rubber on the track and made it difficult to get the tires warmed up.

For Power, the 2014 titlist who was 42 points back of Penske teammate Josef Newgarden in the championship, the crash is devastating. The DNF will cripple his championship hopes and leaves Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud as the four remaining contenders.

The Verizon IndyCar Series still hasn’t implemented head protection on the cars for its drivers. Mark Miles, chairman of Hulman & Co., which owns IndyCar, told USA TODAY Sports in June that testing is on-going on a screen, but probably won’t be ready for the start of the 2018 season.

“We think it can work and be affixed to the new chassis we have with the new aero, but it takes a lot of development,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s got to be the right strength. You can’t have it cause unintended consequences. There were some sims with one version where if something hit it – like a tire, for example – you could actually propel it and cause damage (to) others.

“There’s just a lot to take into account. We have to make sure it doesn’t create too much drag, that it doesn’t affect the racing negatively and it’s a lot to handle. But we’re serious about it. … It’s certainly on the front burner.”